Pity China's 'Bare Branches'

China’s unmarried men are stuck between tradition and capitalism.

By ﻿Xuan Li for The Diplomat

February 03, 2017

Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is a highlight in Chinese society. But for many young people, the joy of vacation and family reunion is mixed with questions from parents and relatives about their achievements in the past year, including about their relationships.

This is a particularly stressful occasion for single men who – unless they choose to rent a fake partner or have a stroke of luck at the local marriage “market” – are forced to face the miserable stigma of singlehood.

The 2010 national census data suggests that 24.7 percent Chinese men above the age of 15 have never been married, while 18.5 percent of women in the same age group remain unwed.

The disparity in marital status between the sexes is particularly large in younger age groups. According to the same data source, 82.44 percent of Chinese men between 20 and 29 years of age have never been married, which is 15 percent more than women of the same age. The gap is approximately 6 percent among those in their 30s and less than 4 percent for those in their 40s or older.

But there is an argument that the sex birth ratio might not be as skewed as all that. It points out that many of the “missing” girls were unregistered at birth in official records. By examining multiple waves of census data, for example, researchers have found that millions of “hidden girls” turned up in later statistics.

That being said, the extreme 118:100 sex birth ratio still points to huge pools of bachelors in China in the decades to come.

What alarms the state is not the single status of these men, but their socioeconomic characteristics. China’s wealth is unequally distributed across the population, with particularly huge income gaps between urban and rural populations.

As in most countries, men are expected to be the head and main provider for the family, and women are allowed and encouraged to “marry up” to males with resources. Caught between the patriarchal tradition and the widening social gap, Chinese men on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder have a particularly hard time attracting brides.

New generations of Chinese women, who now make up 45 percent of the country’s workforce and are almost on par with their male compatriots in education enrollments, no longer need to be financially dependent on future husbands. They have the potential to shake rigid gender roles that require men to shoulder the economic burden alone.

Many young women – especially those without promising career prospects – are looking again to marriage as their once-in-a-lifetime chance for upward social mobility. This is reflected in the increasing dating costs and rocketing “bride wealth” that women request from their male partners, which further disadvantage impoverished men.

Young men – economically disadvantaged and sexually frustrated – might eventually vent their anger through violence against others, thereby threatening public security and social stability. At least, that’s what the Chinese government fears.

But little is discussed in official channels about abandoned girls, domestic and international human trafficking, and supporting women in workplaces.

Of course, not all “bare branches” are disadvantaged because of socioeconomic reasons. Homosexuality was formally decriminalized in China as recently as 1997 and removed from the list of mental illnesses in 2001.

Despite the conservative stance of the government and the dominating power of capital, there are signs of progress. In a recent survey on relationship values conducted by Tencent.com, one of the leading internet companies in China, both male and female respondents listed “individual space” (32.8 percent) and “real connections” (24.6 percent) as their top requirements for starting a marriage. Only 9.3 percent of males and 16.6 percent of females put “house and car” as a requirement, suggesting a rejection of the purely materialistic model of marriage.